Removable drawer front



March 6, 1962 s. M. HOWE REMOVABLE DRAWER FRONT Filed Aug. 13, 1958 INVENTOR. STANLEY M. HOWE ATTORNEYS llnited States Patented Mar. e, was

This invention is a removable drawer front for filing cabinets and other drawered ofilce equipment and process for attaching the drawer front.

In decorating ofiices, it is not always practical or economically possible to replace file cabinets or other drawered ofiice equipment, especially Where the cabinets or other equipment are working satisfactorily and may be expected to do so for an indefinite period of time. An object of this invention is to provide a removable drawer front which can be expeditiously attached to present day drawers of office equipment to conform to the decorating scheme of the ofiice in which the equipment is used.

Other objects of the invention are to provide removable drawer fronts for office equipment which may be made of many different materials and colors to blend with and complement ofiice redecorations and ofiice furnishings; to effect a maximum in savings to both seller and buyer since only drawer fronts have to be stocked for shipment and can be transported with facility at a minimum cost and quickly applied to the equipment at its place of location; and to provide a sturdy drawer front which will indefinitely withstand the stresses placed thereon in repeated opening and closing of the drawers.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following description of the present preferred form of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a conventional file cabinet illustrating the application of the removable drawer front;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional exploded view of the multi-part drawer front assembly, a conventional drawer being shown fragmentarily;

FIG. 3 is a detail fragmentary sectional view of the multi-part drawer front assembly in process of being attached to the front of a conventional drawer;

FIG. 4 is a detail vertical sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 5 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In order to illustrate the application of this invention, a conventional file cabinet is illustrated, to the front of each drawer of which a removable drawer front of the present invention is attached, the assembly being generally designated 11. The assembly includes a drawer sub-front 12, which is welded or otherwise fixedly secured to a conventional drawer 13, the sub-front having welded or otherwise fixedly secured to its front face, a drawer filler 14. The assembly further includes a removable drawer front or facing 15. The drawer sub-front extends vertically above the top of the drawer, as is customary in file cabinets, and has its upper end bent at right angles to provide an overhanging flange 16. The drawer filler 14 includes a lower terminal bent to provide a substantially V-shape channel 17, the open end of the V pointing aft, with a free terminal of the channel extending below and spaced from the lower terminal of the hub-front 12. The upper terminal and both ends of the drawer filler 14 are bent at right angles, as indicated at 18, the said upper terminal being subjacent the flange 16 and is coextensive with the latter. The front face of the drawer filler carries a pair of bosses or bushings 19, each of which is provided with a central bore 20 which is in alignment with openings in the contiguous sub-front and drawer filler. The removable part of the drawer front is made up of a plate with closed vertical ends 22 and closed top and bottom 23, the free marginal edge of the top and the bottom being extended and bent downwardly to provide supports 24 which are in spaced parallel relation to the inner face of the drawer front 15 as advantageously shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 of the drawing.

The removable portion 15 of the front is engaged with the sub-front and drawer filler, following the modus operandi indicated in FIG. 3 of the drawing. In other words, the lower support 24 is first inter-engaged with the channel 17 after which the top of the part 15 is moved in the direction of the arrows shown in FIG. 3 until the upper support rests on top of the flange 16 as shown in FIG. 4. When in this position, the front part 15 is detachably secured to the sub-front and drawer filler by means of bolts which are trained through the openings 21 of the plates and the bores 2% of the bosses, preparatory to passing through an opening 26 in the front 15 which openings align with threaded recesses 27 formed in a handle or drawer pull 28, as advantageously illustrated in FIG. 5. In this way, the handle is positively engaged with the removable front, without the use of exposed screws or other fastening means and a substantial and durable connection results because of the engagement of the handle with the entire assembly, including the bosses 19.

When it is desired to change the front 15, it is only necessary to remove the bolts 25 and substitute the new. front conforming to the change in decoration of the room in which the equipment is used.

By using the removable drawer front, the drawered equipment of the ofiice need not become obsolete when the oflice is redecorated, and the change in drawer fronts may obviously be made by anyone without the use of special tools. It has been found that new materials such as plastics laminated to metals, which are difficult to incorporate into conventional production line methods, may be advantageously used, as well as metals per se, of various miscellany.

While I have herein described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that various changes may be made therein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A removable drawer front assembly for a drawer having sides and a bottom in fixed relation, a drawer filler and sub-front unit fixed to the sides and bottom of the drawer, the lower terminal of said drawer filler and sub-front unit being bent to provide a substantially V-shaped channel, the open end of which points aft with the lower terminal subjacent the unit, a removable drawer front detachably engaged with said drawer filler and sub-front unit, the lower margin of said removable drawer front being bent rearwardly and upwardly to provide a right angle support in spaced relation to the rear face of said removable drawer front, the front extremity of said V-shaped channel being engageable with the rear face of said removable drawer front and the lower terminal thereof engageable with said right angle support to space the drawer filler and sub-front unit from the removable drawer front, a drawer pull detachably connected with the removable drawer front adjacent the upper limit thereof, and means extending through the drawer filler and sub-front unit and the drawer front for detachably securing the drawer pull thereto.

2. A removable drawer front assembly, as set out in claim 1, with the addition of a spacer interposed between the drawer filler and sub-front unit and the removable 3 drawer front at a point remote from the lower extremity of said assembly.

3. A removable drawer front assembly for a drawer having sides and a bottom-secured together in fixed relationship, a drawer sub-front fixed to the side and bottom of the drawer, a drawer filler secured to the outer face of said sub-front, the upper terminal and both ends of said drawer filler being bent outwardly at right angles to form flanges, the lower terminal of said drawer filler being bent to provide a substantially V-shaped channel, the open end of which points aft, the free terminal of the V-shaped channel extending below and spaced from the lower terminal of said drawer filler, a removable drawer front detachably engaged with said drawer filler, the margins of said drawer front being bent rearwardly to form flanges substantially coextensive with the flanges of said drawer filler, the free marginal edge of the top and bottom of the drawer being bent inwardly to provide supports engageable with the upper and lower terminals of said sub-front, the outermost portion of said V-shaped channel being engageable with the rear face of said removable drawer front and the free terminal thereof being engageable with the bottom drawer front flange support, a drawer pull detachably connected to said removable drawer front adjacent the upper limit thereof, means for detachably securing the drawer pull through said sub-front, drawer filler and removable front, and a spacer interposed between said removable drawer front and drawer filler at the locus of the drawer pull. 

